Hornets Hype

Zach (Los Angeles): Who do you see as the top 4 seeds out West, and who will get the No. 1 seed?

John Hollinger: Lakers will get the top seed because their remaining schedule is so soft. Jazz will get No. 4 because they’ll be NW division champs, and could move up to No. 3 depending on how things go over the final two weeks. OK, now for the hard part. I’ll take Houston to win the Southwest and the No. 2 seed, and San Antonio to finish behind them and take the No. 3. That would leave New Orleans and Phoenix as Nos. 5 and 6, Golden State at 7, and Denver/Dallas at 8. Of course, ask me tomorrow and you might get something completely different.

I’ve been trying for about the last 10 minutes to come up with a way to get my cat, a piece of his poop, and today’s Daily Dime all in one photo. But my cat hates people being near him, not to mention having his picture taken, and I don’t really want his poop that close to my laptop because the idea of that freaks me out, plus I would have to actually, physically pick the poop out of the litterbox, and then I’d have to use my digital camera and not the one in my MacBook because otherwise I couldn’t get the screen in… yeah, it’s just not coming.

Even my cat poops on you, ESPN. You’ll just have to picture it yourself.

(There are things in this analysis I don’t necessarily take issue with, but like hell the Rockets and Jazz are ending up above the Suns and Hornets. It’s just hard to see, after this week. Rockets taking the division over both San Antonio and New Orleans? Doubtful at best.)

Here, J.A. Adande makes the stunningly illogical argument that “since Kobe has his Lakers at the top of the Western Conference, he deserves the MVP.” No mention of Chris Paul in the entire thing. I’m most irate because, well, read it. Everything he says about Kobe today is the exact same argument that could have been made for Chris Paul on Thursday. You could substitute their names. But he didn’t wanna write one about Chris Paul, did he?

Someone asked why the omission of Chris Paul in his chat this afternoon, and he responded that “the Lakers were in first place when he wrote the article.”

Only stunningly illogical because it was the Hornets who were in first place as recently as 20 hours ago. I bet he’s all annoyed he had to wait until the Lakers had a game in hand on the Hornets to post that garbage. Shit, who hasn’t been in first place in the Western Conference this week? This is what I’m saying.

It’s like, if you want to say you love Kobe, it’s your opinion. But don’t go giving reasons that apply equally as well to another player. That’s not an argument. That’s a biased opinion.

Like, see me? I have a biased opinion. But I’m not pretending not to.

I feel dirty even linking to this article.

HypeMeter: We wouldn’t touch this article with a 39 1/2 foot pole.

When I started this blog, it was out of a fit of righteous anger in January. I had just gotten into the Hornets. The Hornets were climbing to the top of the Western Conference. Media coverage of the Hornets’ rise was dismal at best. The Hornets’ new lease with the state had an attendance caveat: 14,735 fans per game, or an out clause could come into effect.

Surely the people of New Orleans would come.

But they didn’t. We’d look up at the stands and take stock, count up the empty sections up top, and say, “Well, should be at least 12,000 tonight. That’s better.” Meanwhile the Hornets made their statement by taking first place in the Southwest Division, then first place in the Western Conference. But what happens when a tree falls in the woods and no one’s there to see it?

I had just started to love the Hornets, and they were going to get taken away from me. It wasn’t fair.

Fast forward.

This is how it happens. Final seconds of the third quarter. 78-72 Hornets with the lead over the Lakers.

Chris Paul to a streaking Pargo. Pargo drops it back to Chandler.

Tyson Chandler soars.

Minutes later, attendance is announced at 18,199.

And as I sat there looking up, into the funnel of motion and screaming and color that was the New Orleans Arena, I thought, “This is it. I might as well stop blogging, because I have nothing more to say. Mission accomplished.”

That moment you were waiting for? That was it.

Oh, NOLA, I thought I knew everything about you. You love football, and you scorn outsiders. You party early, arrive late. How could I forget that you understand hope? You understand doggedly pushing on, and doing the things that no one thought you could do. You understand rising up.

New day.

Hornets 108, Lakers 98. The standings in the unbelievably tight West playoff seeding race juggle themselves a bit. Rockets up, Lakers down, Hornets up. There are 2.5 games separating #1 from #7.

New day.

You go outside in your bare feet, you pick up the paper off the lawn. The sun is beginning to shine on a muggy spring day in Uptown New Orleans, the steam just starting to build in the semi-cool air. The Times Picayune headline declares, “SHOWTIME, N.O. STYLE: Paul, Hornets show Lakers a few things about shooting stars,” an article about Deuce and the Saints relegated to the side column.

And you realize that maybe you do still have something to say after all. Because the Hornets still have plenty more ball to play. And you can’t wait to see what they do next. Anyhow, Ron says we can’t decide we have nothing more to say. Because then he’ll be forced to de-link us. So I have no doubt I’ll find something, as we follow these Hornets to uncharted places.

New day. Where do you go from here?

CrowdWatch: 1,000 past capacity. The people in the folding chairs behind us were gushing about how much fun they had, and asked if we could take their picture with our THE BACK ROW BELIEVES sign.

HypeMeter: Lakers/Hornets would have gotten mega play if it hadn’t been for the Houston Rockets extending their stupid 21-game winning streak against another woeful opponent. F the Rockets’ streak… I’ve read that Kobe Bryant is getting “MVP!” chants in other teams’ arenas lately. Memo to Kobe: That one last night wasn’t for you… Hornets: Feel-Good Story of the Year.

T.P. Watchdog: Hornets are the main story on nola.com this morning. Angry CP3 snarls, “MY BALL! MINE!” at not-angry-enough Kobe Bryant on the front page banner and the front page of the sports section. Chris Paul… so hot right now.

HypeMeter: ALL TIME HIGH.

Seriously. The crowd of 16, 300 booed the Spurs every time they touched the ball from the 3rd quarter on. Every single possession. I think, and I do not like to overstate these kinds of things and give us too much credit, that the arena singlehandedly caused the Spurs to drop the ball out of bounds at least twice. I am pretty sure this actually happened, and I would love to see some TV highlights. It all started when CP went down and got kicked by Bruce Bowen (is there tape on this? oh here, go to town), then actually got called for the foul. The crowd booed. And then they just didn’t stop. The team spun a 7 point lead into 13 and never looked back.

Mo Pete: “Our fans were unbelievable tonight. I’ve never seen an entire team get booed like that since I’ve been in the NBA.” More Hornet quotes!

You know, you gotta think the Spurs weren’t expecting that. I mean, yeah, they’re pros, they’re used to hostile crowds. But when you think about it, our last two games against them have been in San Antonio. They haven’t been to New Orleans since November, when the crowd was, what, 12,000? Yeah. I doubt they were prepared for it. Not from us.

I hope we scared them the hell out of our house.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Well, it’s official. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association today granted the request of Chris Andersen to be reinstated as an NBA player. According to Nola.com, Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower said: “We will now begin the process of getting him back on the court and back in a Hornets uniform as quickly as possible.” Which means provided that Anderson passes a physical, he’s going to be a Hornet again. But by all accounts, Anderson has kept in good shape, so the odds look good.

This is exactly what the Hornets were hoping for when the rest of the conference starting running at big men. Despite not playing in two years, he knows Coach Scott’s system, fits in it well, and the Coach loves him. He’s like someone with Bowen’s hustle, West’s moxie, and Armstrong’s physical build. He’s eight to ten years younger than guys like P.J. Brown or Shaq, while more agile and talented that others bigs we’ve seen moving around the league lately like Diop, Collins (Jason), Magloire, Mbenga, Ratliff, Thomas (Kurt), Brezec, or Johnson (Linton).

The HYPE is huge for this one!!!

……But thanks!

With an attendance goal to meet, the Hornets’ MVP is turning out to be the fans.

Here we have a rare sighting of a positive Hornets attendance article in the wild. This elusive specimen was glimpsed on the front page (not the front page of Sports, the Front Page front page) of the Times Picayune, marking it as an article of a doubly rare species. It had to be photographed quickly before it disappeared, never to be seen again by scientists for many, many years.

Historic.

HypeMeter: Possibly at an all-time high.

Free! CP3 Posters for everyone tonight! (See left.) Clearly meant to be a depiction of what Chris Paul looks like shortly before devouring someone’s soul. And they’ve done a good job with it, too.

ESPN the Mag Hype for CP: This article just appeared on the front page of espn.com. Everyone wants to be friends with Chris Paul. It’s the cool thing to do. Except, where ya been lately on that whole yelling-at-Tyson thing?

What-EVER, Marty Burns: People who disrespect the CP3|MVP mission end up in a special place. It’s called the Shit List.

CrowdWatch: I think we’ve got another sellout for tonight. There were only 300 tickets left as of this morning.

Bonus Random Hype That Can’t Quite Be Categorized: Hilton Armstrong and Julian Wright go bowling. Why? How? No one knows. I love you, internets.

And remember to smile at the game, because you’re on TV!

• Attendance was 11,289.
• The Hornets lost to the Wizards.
• The Hornets are on a three game losing streak.

There is no hype. There is negative hype.

• Yesterday afternoon I was in my car listening to actual Hornets talk on WWL. I thought, “Is this happening?” It was rather unbelievable. One guy said he has Direct TV and doesn’t get to watch the Hornets games. Wednesday’s game was the first time he’d ever seen Chris Paul play. He said he called up and immediately bought tickets for the next two Fridays.

• How big is the love fest for CP right now, by the way? The crowd on Wednesday wasn’t a sellout, but it was probably the loudest of the season. They were ready to go crazy right from the get-go. They screamed for Shinn when he talked about how great New Orleans did at hosting the All Star Game. They screamed for the starting line up. There was one moment when Chris Paul was just dribbling the ball up court, not even particularly doing anything except touching it, and there was a spontaneous standing, screaming ovation.
• Chris Paul systematically dismantled Kidd and the Mavs. He possibly was bent on destroying their souls. That was fun.
• Sorry to see Bobby go, especially after the game he had. The deal gave us more options, toughness, and a bit more size, but it remains to be seen whether chemistry will be disrupted. One would think Byron Scott would simply bench any one who even started to start shit. I imagine they know that about him and I hope attitudes won’t be a problem.
• At Casino Night last night, I missed my moment to get my pic with David West. (I was totally gonna blog it, too.) We were like ships passing in the night. Or really, ships loitering by the buffet table. I decided to go for the food first, but alas, I didn’t know the players were going to take off shortly afterward due to their game the next day. Opportunities pass.
• We got a nice numbered print with Chandler, Paul, West, and Stojakovic on it. If you renewed your season tix, you got free courtside seats for an upcoming game. We didn’t bite, but many people did.
• Hey, did you know there’s a whole aisle of Hornets gear in Walmart? I generally boycott Walmart as a rule, but I had to stop and get cat food on the way home from Metro. We were all excited to see it. They have jerseys (I didn’t know there was a whole other tier of jersey below the replica, but it turns out there is), T-shirts, sweatshirts, and… Chris Paul pajama pants!
• More and more I get the feeling this is the Hornets’ moment, and it is really starting to roll in NOLA. I feel momentum. I hope they sell out the game tonight! And hey, Buzzfest!
• I seriously don’t think I can live without a pair of Chris Paul pajama pants, so if anyone knows where to get them in a size smaller than XL, please tell me where!

The Saturday Skills Competition was awesome, albeit not the Hornets day to shine. Nonetheless, it was New Orleans itself which shined. The first event, Shooting Stars, featured four teams, each which had to make six shots in order, each further back than the former, culminating in a half court shot. No Hornets, as it featured a current NBA star, WNBA star, and NBA legend (retired) from San Antonio, Detroit, Chicago, and Phoenix. San Antonio won. And as it wasn’t said in ANY other outlet I saw, it was the WNBA player, Becky Hammon, who carried them in the first round, and fully pulled her part in the finals to win. That woman can shoot!

Next up was the Skills Challenge, featuring our very own someday-MVP, Chris Paul (picture above). There, competitors had to make a lay-up/dunk, dribble around several obstacles, make a serious of passes, shoot from the free throw line, pass again, and then sprint through more obstacles before making a final lay-up/dunk. Chris dazzled in the first round, to the delight of many Hornets fans, but unfortunately got ousted in the finals by the perfect (and record-breaking) performance by arch-nemesis, Deron Williams. Well guess what, we’ll see what happens on the 29th. Look to see CP3 rebound.

Next up was Peja in the 3-Point contest. Despite being a two-time champion in this event, he started off cold, missing from his usual money-spot in the corner. But then he got hot, passing several competitors, but missed the 2-point ball after making all the other four in the final rack, meaning he fell just below two other players, which proved his undoing, when last year’s champ, Jason Kapono blasted past everyone, knocking out Peja. Kapono went on to win the contest handily. Although we were disappointed, we dare the other five guys in the contest to do that with the game clock expiring and a seven footer in their face like Peja does. We know you’re still the best, Peja.

That left the dunk event, also with no Hornets. Boo. They tried to get Julian Wright in it, to no avail. As ticktock6 pointed out, the only bummer about this amazing event was that it was all gimmicks. So here is our shot out to Jamario Moon, who probably pulled out the most athletic dunk with his first round bounce-down jumping 360 catch and full bring back tomahawk slam that started it all. Dwight Howard, however, was the ultimate winner. And deservedly so.

Hypemeter: although the Hornets didn’t win any events, New Orleans won them all. And so we’re proud of that!